


Cake

by 401



Series: Fixing Winter [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Cake, Fluff, Food Issues, M/M, Vomit, Vomiting, food intolerance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-19
Updated: 2015-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-10 03:55:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4376267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/401/pseuds/401
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky has to get accustomed to life outside of Hydra, and eating is a part of that. Chocolate cake does not sit well when you haven't touched solid food for decades.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cake

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is not vital to the Fixing Winter series so if vomiting freaks you out, you wont miss much if you skip it. Just something my brain did.

Bucky watched as Steve worked his way through the biggest slice of chocolate cake he had seen in decades. Dr Banner had baked it, a surprising skill of his, for Natasha Romanov’s birthday. There had been so much left over that the Captain had bought a few large chunks home. This was his second.

Bucky wasn’t doing quite so well. Sugar was not something he had come into contact with much over the years. He had relied on protein shakes and intravenous feeds to barely get him by while he was with Hydra, neither of which tasted like anything or required any thought or chewing. It was a far stretch from what he was tackling now. Frosting was sticking to the roof of his mouth and it was so cloyingly sweet that it was making his teeth ache.

He had been nursing that one mouthful for a while, trying desperately to get it as liquid as possible before swallowing it. He had struggled with a cheese sandwich a few days earlier so he was starting to internally reprimand himself for thinking this was a good idea.

“I’m telling myself I should probably stop,” Steve giggled, taking another mouthful and wiping chocolate from the tip of his nose.

“Come on babe, you need to gain a bit of weight, remember?” Steve encouraged, gesturing the half a small slice on Bucky’s plate that was intimidatingly unshrinking.

Bucky nodded. He did need to gain weight, or at least stop losing it. He knew that, like the Captain, he burned far more energy than most people due to the serum, but Hydra had not taken that into account so he had never gotten into the practice of eating the amount he was supposed to, or the right things for that matter.

He looked across their small dining table at Steve. He was watching him, smiling and content, but still concerned.

Bucky put another bite into his mouth and was again overwhelmed by texture and sweetness.

 _Swallow, just swallow it_ \- he thought to himself. His throat went dry and sticky. Chewing was not going to do anything to help this. Bucky ducked his head as a wave of nausea that made his mouth ache and water washed over him.

“You alright, honey?” Steve asked, leaning forward slightly.

Bucky’s metal hand was clenched in a fist and pressed against his mouth. He barely ever used that hand for anything, keeping it in his lap or in his pocket to hide it.

“Flashback?” Steve asked.

Bucky shook his head but the movement just made his stomach lurch harder. He gagged hard, so hard his eyes watered, pressing his metal hand against his mouth harder and standing up fast enough that his plate clattered onto the floor of the kitchen.

He made a sprint for the bathroom, Steve following.

“Bucky, darling”- Steve stopped as Bucky bent double over the toilet.

He kneeled beside him, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows and pushing Bucky’s long hair behind his ears.

Bucky shuddered, still fighting the urge to vomit with all of his strength. He could feel his stomach cramping.

“I’m sorr”- Bucky started, cutting off as his throat went into spasm.

Steve winced at the painful sounding retch that followed. He rubbed circled into Bucky’s back, blocking out the sound of vomit hitting the toilet water by muttering words of comfort that Bucky probably could not hear over the sound of his own gagging.

Steve had seen Bucky vomit before, before the war. But back then, it had been because of a stomach bug or too much whiskey (usually too much whiskey). All run of the mill things that they could laugh of afterwards knowing that it probably wouldn’t happen again, and if it did, at least it was because he had had too much fun. Right now, Steve just felt bad for him. This was because of half a slice of chocolate cake. This was because he had just tried to do something that everyone else does, that everyone else tells him he should do because it is so normal. So he can ‘rehabilitate’. He had been so consistently denied what he needed that he could not cope. He looked at Bucky, clutching the toilet seat with his white-knuckled flesh hand and clutching his stomach with the metal one and his chest burned with anger. Hydra had messed with his life so much that even now, when most of Hydra had been burned to the ground, Bucky still could enjoy ‘normal’. He deserved that at least.

Bucky made an uncomfortable burping sound before letting his head clunk against the porcelain.

“Well,” he croaked out, “I guess they say you can never have your cake and eat it.”

Steve laughed, but it didn’t stop sudden, jarring tears from rolling down his face.

“I’ll get you some water and stuff, get into bed, babe,” Steve instructed, before Bucky could question the emotion on his face.

~

Steve came into the bedroom. Bucky was in bed, knees folded up and lying on his side.

“Any better?” Steve asked, sitting on the bed next to him and stroking his forehead.

“Mm, your hands are cold,” Bucky said, closing his eyes contently and clasping his hand in place, “What made you sad, Steve?”

He should have known that he was not going to avoid this.

“I just…it’s not fair that everything is difficult for you,” Steve started, “If anything I was just angry that you still can’t catch a break.”

Bucky chuckled weakly under Steve’s hand. He nuzzled it so it wasn’t covering his eyes anymore.

 

“You and your justice, Captain,” he teased, kissing Steve’s palm.

 

  



End file.
